 |
| Great-Great-Grandfather Gerhart (left) with friends |
Webster
defines community as society in general. This seems very rather impersonal to me. I like
the definitions that defines community as “the condition of living with others,
friendly association and fellowship." Most Americans think of community as a
place where they feel wanted and safe. Unfortunately with the unrest and turmoil
within the world today, some still search for this sense of belonging and
safety.
The idea
of a utopian community is not new. There have been more than a few experimental
communities in our history. Some have remained such as the Shaker’s community;
others are long gone. Communes that had a social purpose such as a “service
commune” had great staying power, such as the Koinonia Farm in Georgia. Founded
in 1942, Koinonia tried to bring racial integration and farm technology to the
rural Southern poor. In 1970, there were 2,000 communes, more than at any other
time in history as people strived for a better way of living in society away
from the city’s hustle and bustle. They wanted a simpler life, a more natural
life than what the bright lights and machinations could give them. The most
extreme experiment was the Oneida colony. The Oneida colony was founded by
Humphrey Noyes in New York State in…. This group practiced a form of group
marriage. It was the most radical and controversial utopian community in United
States history. Noyes called his group “Perfectionists.” This group started out
as a bible study group in Putney, Vermont. Followers believed that Christ
demanded and promised perfection on Earth. At its peak, more than 200 people
belonged to the commune. They practiced “complex marriage” or what may be more
akin to what the 1970 hippies may have called “free love.” In his pamphlet, “Slavery and Marriage,” Noyes stated that
exclusiveness in a love relationship was un-Christian. He also felt that
marriage w as demeaning to women because it forced them into unwanted
pregnancies and menial work. Children were raised communally in Oneida instead
of by their parent.
After
failing at farming, the Oneida commune turned to manufacturing steel traps,
travel bags and silverware which also contributed to their income which was
also shared communally and business was ran by committee. Eventually due to
public condemnation of their sexual eccentricity, they were forced to give up
their group marriages, and many entered into traditional marriages. They gave
up communal ownership of property and became a joint-stock company in 1881.
Founder Noyes, under prosecution for adultery, fled to Canada. Currently they
have continued as one of the
world’s largest designers and sellers of stainless steel and silverplated
cutlery and tableware, operating in the U.S. Canada, Mexico and Latin America,
where they market and distribute tabletop products such as flatware,
dinnerware, glassware, kitchen tools and gadgets.
Now in
the digital age of the 2000s, this yearning is again making itself known.
People are returning to farming, gardening, recycling, reusing as they learn to
take care of the Earth’s resources and build a better community for their
children and in doing so, sowing the seeds of regeneration in a world that had
seemingly been lost in the technological bubble. People are learning to use
technology as a tool but not as a crutch. As people strive to keep their sense
of community, which at one time was very narrow and local, we now have to
realize that we live in a global community and that, at humans, we all share
common goals and needs; among them, adequate healthy food, clean air and clean
water, safety from the elements and from oppression. These we need and want to
sustain us and give us the ability to choose one’s own actions and fulfill ones’
dreams of a better future for ourselves, our children and grandchildren and even
great-grandchildren as well. And as we do live in this global community, we
should want this for our neighbors as well in the spirit of brotherhood and
sisterhood. These are the highest ideals of the utopian community. It will
remain to be seen if any society can achieve all of those goals on a collective
scale but even so, we have to try. We are all one big family on this big, blue
marble. Let’s try to be a happy one. This may sound like a Pollyanna way of
thinking but not a bad idea if you ask me. For more information about current
communal living experiments, “Intentional Living or the “Co-Living” models, visit
The Fellowship for Intentional Community. Namaste! - Helen
